John Allen House (1799)

John Allen (1763-1812), originally from Great Barrington, Mass., attended the Litchfield Law School from 1784 to 1786. He set up practice in Litchfield and became active in politics, serving as in the Connecticut House of Representatives (1793-1796) and the U.S. House (1797-1799). He was later a member of the State council and of the Supreme Court of Errors from 1800 to 1806. The John Allen House, at 91 North Street in Litchfield, was built around 1799. The Federal-style house was expanded and altered in the Italianate style around 1865.

Old Town Hall, Killingworth (1881)

Behind the Congregational Church in Killingworth is a building known as the Old Town Hall. It was built in 1881, as described by William H. Buell in the chapter on Killingworth in the History of Middlesex County, Connecticut, published in 1884:

Several of the farmers of Killingworth, about eight years since, formed themselves into an association […]. In 1880, Deacon L. L. Nettleton, Washington E. Griswold, R. P. Stevens, Francis Turner, Nathan H. Evarts, and all others who had subscribed to the articles of association, petitioned the Legislature that they be constituted a body politic and corporate by the name of the “Killingworth Agricultural Society.” The petition was granted, the society organized under their charter […]

As the society had no building in which to hold their meetings and their fairs, they at once made arrangements to build an Agricultural Hall, and to this end appropriated their share of the State bounty to agricultural societies towards paying the expenses of the building their hall. But some evil minded persons brought the subject before the Legislature, and the society was debarred from having any further benefit of it for that purpose, and they, instead of letting the State have it, divided it among the rest of the agricultural societies. How rich it must have made them!

But the hall was built, and it is 33 by 56 feet, with basement, and by dint of perseverance and their annual fairs (without any further State aid), the society have paid their bills. The basement is now thoroughly cemented, and the society expect to pay this bill as they have their former ones.

Unfortunately, the Agricultural Society later failed and the building was sold in 1910 to the Killingworth Grange. The building became the Town Hall when the town purchased it from the Grange in 1923 for $1.00, with the Grange reserving the right to have its meeting in the building for a reasonable rental fee. In 1965, the town bought a new building to use as Town Hall and in 1966 sold the old Town Hall to the Congregational Church. Today, the restored building is used for various public functions, performances and events.

Former Methodist Church, Coventry (1867)

Coventry was the birthplace of Lorenzo Dow (1777-1834), the famous itinerant Methodist preacher and major figure of the Second Great Awakening. The earliest records of a Methodist Society in town date to 1822, but there were no doubt Methodist meetings in town before then. The town’s first Methodist church was built in the 1840s, in what is now Patriot’s Park. In 1867, it was replaced with a new Italianate-style church, erected on Main Street in South Coventry. The church lost its steeple in the 1938 hurricane and it was never replaced. By 1944, membership in the church had dwindled such that the remaining parishioners could no longer maintain the building. In 1949, they merged with the Bolton Methodist Church. The former Coventry Methodist Church was used for a number of years as a community house for meetings and gatherings and in the 1990s contained antiques stores. In 2003, it was refurbished as retail space.

P.C. Turner House (1849)

The P.C. Turner House, at 127 Federal Street in New London, is an interestingly eclectic Italianate house. It was built before 1880, perhaps as early as 1830–in which case some of the architectural elements were likely added later. The most accurate date is 1849. Its most striking feature is the cast-iron veranda on the west and south sides of the house, which include a dramatic hexagonal corner porch. The house was built for Peter C. Turner, who was a merchant involved in the whaling industry. He was a trustee and partner in Albertson and Douglas Co., a foundry which did business with whalers, cashier and later president of the National Whaling Bank in New London and treasurer of the New London County Bible Society.

The Academy, Clinton (1801)

The Academy Hall building in Clinton was built in 1801 by twenty men of the town for use as a school to prepare local students for college. The teacher lived upstairs and taught in classrooms downstairs. The Academy later passed to town ownership and continued as a school and was used for a time for town meetings. The building was remodeled in the Italianate style later in the nineteenth century. Later leased to the local Grange, the Academy is now used by the Clinton Parks and Recreation Department. (more…)